FINNED (The Merworld Water Wars) (29 page)

“Prehendo Animus is a rare poison encased in an ocean-made jewel. It’s also known as the soul snatcher.”

“Soul snatcher,” I repeated dazedly.

“I haven’t seen one in many years. Poseidon destroyed them all prior to the Pacific Water War of 1709. Apparently, some of it survived. It only takes a sliver, after all,” he said, staring at the air.

1709. Seventeen. Trey’s note. “Doctor?”

“Marina, I need to know how many pieces you have seen that resemble this rock,” he said, clasping his hands around mine.

“Oh, I suck at math. Okay, um, let me think. The necklace is the biggest piece. Katrina also has a ring and bracelet to match. So, that’s three. Uh, let’s see. Oh! There was one embedded in the frame of a porthole thingy in Zale’s mansion. I saw it Halloween night.” I decided not to mention the ghostly faces.

“Four pieces,” he said, rubbing his temples. “Marina, I need you to get me that piece in the porthole.”

“What is this?
Gone with the Sanity
?”

“Well, tomorrow is another day.”

“You want me, a Normal, to waltz into the Zale’s highly guarded mansion, destroy a porthole, grab a red stone, and pirouette out?”

“Of course not. I want you to
break
in,
break
the porthole,
steal
the stone, and
run
out.”

“Oh, yeah, no problem! Why don’t I just sign my ticket to jail while I’m at it?”

“In all fairness, they’d probably just send you to juvenile detention.”

“Comforting.”

“It has to be you, Marina. Any merperson with clean hands cannot physically touch even an inch of a Prehendo Animus without their bodies becoming riddled with sores. The sores would then send a signal to King Zale that he has a traitor. I needn’t tell you what Zale’s reaction would be.”

“Well, then, just don’t wash your hands before you go get it!” I said incredulously. From the look on his face, I must have said something profoundly stupid.

“Not literal, Marina, figurative. Clean hands, meaning pure of choice, pure of soul.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course.” I’m such a giant butt-wipe.

“You have friends. Certain Ravenflames will help you.”

“Like you,” I said, folding my arms.

“Like me,” he said cheerily, whipping around to grab a ragged book off one of the many bookshelves. “There ya go! Did my part to aid the cause.”

“It’s a book.”

“You’re a smart one.”

“Care to tell me how a mangy book is supposed to help me?”

“Nah, not really,” he said smiling. “Now, you won’t be able to do this until the last night in June.”

“Why is that?” Not that I’m complaining. The longer I can put it off, the better.

“Because that’s the night of the underwater festival. Happens every year on the last night in June. Strange. Figured Troy might’ve mentioned something.”

Trying not to sound pissed, I said, “I must’ve forgotten or something.”

“Marina, do me a favor. Do not tell Troy about your mission. Can you do that for me?”

“Sure, but why? You tell Treeva things.” I didn’t mean it to sound as accusatory as it did.

“I’m asking you not just for me, but for Treeva as well.”

“Treeva? Treeva asked you to make sure I didn’t tell her brother anything?”

“Yes. Please ask no more questions, Marina. I couldn’t answer them anyway. She won’t tell me everything.”

Doctor Tenly, the remarkably brilliant merdoctor, sat down next to me, the ultimate gagger. We couldn’t be more different if we tried. Yet, at this moment, we both had the same lost, sad, empty feeling created by two hearts of the same family.

“Don’t forget about your gum. It must be well-chewed by now,” he said, breaking the gloomy silence.

“Let’s get this over with,” I grumbled, taking the gum from my mouth and walking for the gum-covered wall. “There are no words in the entire dictionary to explain to you how disgusting this is.”

Feeling like a vandal, I stuck my gum against the wall and—Good God Almighty—every single piece of half-chewed gum sparked and transformed into a butterfly.

“Intriguing. Very intriguing,” said Doctor Tenly, eyeing the butterflies before resting his curious gaze upon me.

“Uh, well, neat trick, Doc,” I said, inching my way out.

“Not my trick, Marina Valentine,” he said, studying me. “Not my trick.”

“Uh-huh, oh, well…”

Taking my tatty book, I hurried for the car. The doctor’s driver took me home before sunset. According to him, darkness was a very bad time to be a Normal. Yeah, I kind of figured that one out on my own.

He dropped me in front of my house, and I casually sauntered through the front door to find my mom tapping her foot.

“Marina Jayne Valentine. Where have you been?” My mom looked frazzled, no doubt worried I had fallen off the sane wagon and reentered
scare the crap out of mom
mode.

The smell of spicy meatballs made my mouth water. “Oh, Mom, you cooked! It smells so good!”

Softening a bit, she said, “I felt bad the meeting carried on as long as it did, so I rushed home to cook you a proper meal, only to find you not home. Now, I’ll ask you once more, where have—oh! Were you at the library?” she said, spotting the book in my hands.

“Uh, yeah, the library.”

“That’s my little studious girl,” she said proudly, twisting around the counter to add some garlic to the meat sauce.

“How was your meeting?” I asked, climbing on a bar stool.

“Oh, long and boring. There was one bit of news I thought might interest you.”

“Is it about Meikle?” I asked anxiously.

“Sure is. I’ve hated not having anything to tell you, so I decided to get some answers.”

“Way to go, Mom! What’d they say?”

“The hospital here has done everything they can for her. They’re transferring her to Baylor, up in Dallas, as soon as they feel she’s stable enough to be moved. I will miss her mother. She’s been a good friend.”

“Can we see her before she leaves?”

Mom shook her head. “She’s still in quarantine.”

“Makes me wonder about the medical practices in Saxet Shores…among other things.”

“I did feel a little insecure about the quality of medical care around here,” said Mom. “But—and I know you don’t like him—Mr. Anderson assured me that her situation is very rare. He appeared quite concerned.”

“What else did Mr. Anderson say?”

“He fears Meikle may have contracted some mutant strain of flu. I guess it can sometimes travel in local fish. If she has a compromised immune system, this particular flu can apparently mutate into something that attacks her from the inside. He had a name for it, but I can’t for the life of me remember what he called it.”

Breathing heavily, I said, “Prehendo Animus.”

“Yes! How on earth did you know that? All that research in the library paying off, eh?”

“Something like that.”

My gaze fell upon the book Doctor Tenly gave me.

Beneath The Surface Rests Truth…Above It, Lies & Magic
, by Razzanne Rain.

Truer words have never been written.

Chapter Twenty-One

Invisible Transportation, Familiar Faces, and One Red Stone

June: Bye-bye, school! Hurray! Hello, life of crime and near death. Boo.

Monthly Life Caption: It Can Always Get Worse…Believe It.

Mood: Nervous

Eating: Copious amounts of salt & vinegar chips

Music: Country—I need to feel empowered

Dear end of the year exams: I don’t like you. You’ve demanded all of my spare time—time I could’ve used grilling (no pun intended) Troy on this fish festival…a festival he has yet to mention. Oh, but that’s not the only reason I hate you. Not only do you cruelly challenge my overworked, overly stuffed brain, but you mark the end of life as I know it. Once, I was a sweet, albeit bullheaded, sometimes cranky girl; now, I’m destined to become a morally corrupt criminal. The night I’ve been dreading was finally here. Tonight, I will break the law, break the rules, turn my back on nearly every moral principle my mom taught me, lie to my boyfriend, and force my dear friend, Airianna, to be my accomplice. I just hope God considers my motives. I
am
trying to stop some evil stuff from possibly happening. That must be good enough for God. I hope. Otherwise, I’m going to spend eternity in a blisteringly hot climate…and I can’t tan.

Oh well, I haven’t the time to think about my potential reign as a demon princess. Right now, I must go over my checklist for tonight.

My Night of Crime Checklist
:

Accomplice
: Airianna (poor thing)—check!

Lookout person
: Bobby (hope his allergies don’t act up)—check!

Way into the Zale’s mansion
: Underground tunnels via the map hidden in the book Doctor Tenly gave me (too bad I spent hours mulling over the pages before finding a map tucked in the middle.
Note to self: Enough with the ‘let’s not scare the merps’ crap. It’s time to ask the doctor about this deliverer monster…especially after what I read about it in this book.
)—check!

Tools to get us in/out
: Thanks to Mrs. Waterberry, we have two lumclaires (a curvy, bronze apparatus, which casts a light for only the eyes of its user); three diamond soar-spheres (tiny, sparkly globes that blast purple brainless powder clouds, rendering whoever walks through them temporarily mindless); three of Harriet Hazee’s Hazyfy cookies (allows one to convincingly evade pointed questions.
Note to self: Only use if caught; they can cause incoherent babble and uncontrollable flight
)—check!

Tools to get the stone
: Um, a mermaid hammer. Other than being gold and encrusted with emeralds, I have no idea how it’s any different from a human hammer—check!

Escape vehicle
: Bobby will have a car parked halfway up the side street…until then, we run—check!

Backpack
: Yes, and packed—check!

Guess I’m all set, apart from wanting to hurl on my feet.

8:45: Crime time
. Once outside my window, something started nudging my feet.

“Hey there little guy! Been a while,” I said, scratching the fuzzy little head of my baby seal friend.

As before, he brought with him a note tied around his neck.

“Trey’s next clue! Finally.” I untied the little ribbon, retrieved the note, and once again found Trey’s familiar handwriting:
Floorboards, key, drop
. “Floorboards? I have my little hermit crab key thingy, but what does he mean by floorboards? What floorboards?” I asked the seal, who stared at me. “Floorboards…maybe Trey’s house?” The seal snorted and nodded. “His room?” This time the little seal hopped, snorted,
and
nodded. “Okay, then. I’ll make a trip to Trey’s tonight after I take care of something.” The seal kind of smiled—or he just had gas—and scurried off.

“What do you have to take care of?”

“Oh! Troy. You scared me. What are you doing here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be at the underwater festivities you conveniently forgot to mention?”

“I was just stopping by to tell you about them. How did you find out?” he asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Not really. What do you have to take care of?”

“Isn’t the festival about to start?” I asked, needing him to leave immediately.

“You’re ignoring my question.”

“You’re ignoring mine.”

He smiled. “Just wanted to check on you before leaving. Can’t you just stay inside tonight?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“What are you up to?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Nothing. I’m just going to meet my mom somewhere.”

“Your mom is on a date with our English teacher.”

Crap. “Uh, well, they asked if I’d like to join them.” Could I possibly pull any more bull out of my buttocks?

“Dressed like that?”

“Like what?”

“You’re dressed like a cat burglar,” he said, grinning.

Hoping the indigo blanket of night was adequately hiding my reddening cheeks, I mumbled, “I decided to channel my inner Meikle tonight, as a tribute.”

“You hate dark colors.”

“How would you know?”

“You’re my girlfriend. I notice what you have on your body.”

Sigh. “What can I say? I wasn’t in a happy colors mood.”

“After spring break, I figured you would be safer above water tonight. That’s the only reason I didn’t tell you. Mr. Gibbs should have given more thought to your mom’s well-being.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He shouldn’t have chosen your mom over the festival.”

“Really? Got a reason there, aqua pal?” I asked angrily.

“He chose a human over us.”

“Over
us
, eh? Wow, drawing lines much?”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“And yet, you said it so easily.”

“I’m not trying to rile you,” he said, reaching for me.

“Not sure if it’s anger or hurt I feel right now. Maybe both,” I said, pulling away from his touch.

“By them going out tonight, the Zale’s will put them atop their hate list.”

“Like we aren’t there already? God forbid a merp should fall in love with a lowly Normal. If you’re so concerned about Mr. Gibbs and my mom, why do you put yourself in the line of fin-hate by dating me?”

“It’s…complicated.”

“No, you know, I don’t think it is. You’re a prince. They can’t touch a hair on your head without getting a heck of a lot of grief.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Maybe I don’t.”

“Look—”

“No, you look, Troy…ugh, I don’t have time for this. I have prior commitments. Have fun at your fishtival.” I walked away as fast as I could.

My anger from our exchange did something unexpected: it motivated me beyond anything mere adrenaline could generate. My blood was ice cold, and my once nervous legs and arms felt army strong. Brain-wise, I was on another level altogether, one of sharpened focus and determination.

Once I reached the shadowed alley behind The Bay Shop, I found Mrs. Waterberry, Airianna, and Bobby anxiously waiting for me.